Operations. After the activation of Twentieth Air Force in Apr 1944, some combat units moved from the United States to India and onto forward bases in China by summer to conduct heavy bombardment operations with B-29 Superfortresses against targets in Japan, Formosa, Thailand, and Burma during Operation MATTERHORN. Other combat elements moved in late 1944 from the United States to the Marianas, where they were joined in early 1945 by the elements that had been in India and China. Headquarters, Twentieth Air Force moved to Guam on 16 Jul 1945. From Guam, Saipan, and Tinian, the Twentieth conducted a strategic air offensive against Japan, climaxed by the dropping of two atomic bombs, one each on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which led to the Japanese surrender, ending World War II. After the war, the Twentieth remained in the theater. Elements served in combat for a short time at the beginning of the Korean War, but Twentieth AF later was concerned primarily with logistics support for the operations of other organizations and with providing air defense of the Ryukyu Islands. Inactivated in Okinawa on 1 Mar 1955. Activated again in 1991 to maintain and operate the Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) forces, first under Strategic Air Command, then (1992) under Air Combat Command, later (1993) under Air Force Space Command, and finally (2009) under Air Force Global Strike Command (the former Strategic Air Command).

Service Streamers. World War II: American Theater; Asiatic-Pacific Theater; Korea: Korean Service.